How to Create a Personalized Ecommerce Experience That Exceeds Customer Satisfaction

How important is creating a personalized Ecommerce experience for customers and where should you start? Read on to find out! 

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

What’s the most important factor for keeping customers happy online?

Is it creating the most appealing products? Or should you focus your resources on providing strong customer support? Perhaps businesses should focus their resources on scoring highly in CSAT metrics?

There’s no denying that all these factors are integral. But today there is one ingredient that is top of the list. We’re talking, of course, about personalization. In the modern world, personalization is everywhere. From the shows we’re recommended on our favorite streaming services, to the ads we’re shown online. 

If you’re an ecommerce site that wants to stand out, personalization needs to be at the heart of your efforts. But where should you start? We’ll talk about that, and more, below. 

What is Personalization? 

Have you ever received an email from a business addressing you by your name specifically? Or have you ever listened to a playlist designed around your listening habits? These are both forms of personalization. But what does the term mean? 

Essentially, personalization is the process of tailoring content around the user. Using ‘cookies’ (data files placed on a user’s browser when they visit websites) we can learn about the behavior of individual users and the kinds of content they enjoy. All this information can be used to bolster client engagement strategies.

Some might say this is invasive, but the average user not only wants but expects personalization. In fact, roughly 80% of customers now expect offers they receive from businesses to be tailored to them.

Personalization is used in practically every online service today. 

Why Does Your Ecommerce Store Need Personalization? 

As an ecommerce store, you need to stand against giants such as Amazon. These websites have huge amounts of data on their customers. This means they can provide highly personalized experiences. To catch the eye of consumers, you need to make sure that you are offering unique experiences.

Of course, personalization isn’t all about product recommendations. In reality, it can take many different forms. Below are some examples of ecommerce personalization: 

• Redirecting users to a website based on their geographic location (such as amazon.com, .co.uk, or .ca). 
• Emails to remind customers that they have abandoned their cart.
• Offers based on users’ viewing and buying behavior. 
• A homepage tailored for individual users. 
• Happy birthday emails for users. 

You don’t need to offer all of the above. But it is a good idea to offer as many forms of personalization as possible. 

The Benefits of Personalization 

Implementing Personalized Ecommerce Experience on your website can involve a lot of effort. So what exactly are the benefits? Here are a few examples of how personalization can help you: 

• As established, customers want personalization. By creating better experiences for them you’ll boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. 
• By recommending products that customers might enjoy, you’re more likely to make sales. 
• You can easily remind customers about purchases with cart abandonment emails. 
• You can boost your content marketing by recommending content that users will enjoy, which could involve you starting a podcast or blog to provide additional content.  

How Do You Collect User Data? 

As mentioned above, to provide personalization you need data and lots of it. But how do you go about gathering data? The good news is that you don’t need a huge budget to learn about your website users. There are many free methods of gathering data. 

Let’s look at some ways of collecting information about your ecommerce store users. 

Using Web Analytics 

The best way of understanding your users is by looking at them specifically. Each user on your website will behave slightly differently. Understanding different patterns of behavior is key to offering personalization. Luckily with web analytics, you can do just that. 

The best example of web analytics software is Google Analytics (GA). GA can be a transformational tool, telling you hugely detailed information about users. This includes reports on their geographic locations, demographics, and even their favorite TV shows. GA is used by 55.8% of websites. Its popularity means that there is a big library of resources to tap into.

With the data provided by web analytics, you can begin to offer much more Personalized Ecommerce Experiences.  

Past Purchases 

Looking at the past purchases of customers provides a simple and easy way of learning about customers. Are specific groups of customers buying certain products? For example, perhaps you discover that a certain item is selling to a younger female audience. 

You can use this information to carry out customer lifecycle journey mapping. This in turn can help power your personalization efforts. 

Email Marketing Software 

As an ecommerce store, you’re probably already carrying out email marketing. But did you know that you can gather useful information from your emails? With the right software, you can dig deep into how customers are interacting with emails. You may find that certain emails are being read by certain groups of customers. 

With this information, you can improve your Personalized Ecommerce Experience and make content more appealing.

Tips For Improving Your Personalization 

Standing out should be a number one priority for ecommerce stores. This means that you will sometimes need to think outside the box when personalizing. Here are some ideas to steer you in the right direction. 

Always Segment  

To provide personalization you must dig deep into data and learn as much about customers as possible. To do so, you’ll need to segment your data. Segmentation is the process of separating data based on specific characteristics. For example, you may segment based on demographic by focusing on some of the following information.

• Geographic location
• Age
• Annual income
• Relationship status
• Family size
• Career

Alternatively, you might segment based on customer interactions. This could mean average basket size, length of stay on your store, or customers who abandoned their cart. 

If you really want to dig deep, you can go even further by micro-segmenting. Let’s imagine that you segment based on country. You can then go a step deeper by segmenting based on city or region. 

With the segmentation technique, you can really get to the bottom of data and gain actionable insights. 

Personalize Your Homepage 

There are two scenarios for when a customer lands at your store. The first is that they are presented with a broad range of products and offers. The second is that they are met with items and deals that they are likely to be interested in. If you want success, you should focus on the latter. 

After all, why waste time forcing customers to search through your catalog? Being ‘spoilt for choice’ is often thought of as a good thing. But if your store is full of products a customer may feel fatigued and give up. With a personalized home page, customers are instantly met with products and deals that they might enjoy. 

You’re more likely to make sales, and a customer will walk away happy. 

Utilize Dynamic Pricing 

Dynamic pricing is an often overlooked strategy. Businesses like uniform price structures that focus on profit. But this approach can make you miss out on making sales. A customer might think that a product is being priced too high, and look elsewhere. 

With dynamic pricing, prices are based on a user. This strategy focuses on the previous buying and browsing behaviors of customers. Algorithms also take into account external factors, such as market demand and even the time of day. With a store inventory checker you can also factor availability into pricing. 

This approach ensures that products are priced competitively and maximizes the chance of sales. 

Have a ‘Recently Viewed’ Section

A standard customer journey can often involve visiting a product more than once before buying it. But sometimes customers forget about products that they have viewed, even if they liked them. 

The more you remind customers about previously viewed items, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

Put yourself in the shoes of the customer for a moment. You are looking for a new laptop online. You find a model that has good reviews and meets your specifications. But you decide that you want to wait for your next payday before making a purchase. By the time payday comes around, you have forgotten the name of the model that you wanted. 

Having a ‘recently viewed’ section is a simple way of avoiding this problem. You can also remind customers further by listing recently viewed products in emails.  

Personalize Based On Location 

Your ecommerce store will probably attract visitors worldwide. But certain elements such as pricing and measurements vary across the globe. If you want to make the most of an international audience, you need to make customers feel welcome. 

For instance, if a customer from the UK is browsing shoes on a website based in the US, sizes will differ. Similarly, pricing will be shown in an unfamiliar currency. But with location-based personalization, you alter these elements to fit with customers. International shoppers won’t be put off, and you can dip into a wider pool of sales. 

Always Allow Customers to ‘Opt in’ 

While customers both want and expect personalization, they are also wary of cookies. Today the topic of data, and how it is used, is top of the list of concerns for users online. Being transparent about how you use data is important for keeping customers onside. 

It’s a good idea to allow customers to ‘opt in’ to cookies before carrying out any tracking. In fact, for customers that originate from certain areas, you are legally obliged to gain consent. For example, users from the EU are protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This piece of legislation regulates the ways companies gather data.

There are often hefty fines associated with breaking legislation. For example, businesses can be fined up to an eyewatering €20 million for breaking GDPR. In other words, it’s highly important that you factor in consent when adding personalization. 

Personalization is the Future 

There’s no avoiding the issue. If you want your ecommerce business to succeed online you can’t overlook personalization. People want simple, quick, and seamless shopping experiences. Businesses that don’t offer this will be left behind. 

Of course, providing personalization isn’t a simple task. You’ll need to gather lots of data while being wary of legislation such as GDPR. But there’s no denying that the rewards outweigh any effort. You’ll improve customer experiences and gain more sales. It’s a win-win! 

Bigger businesses will have access to greater funds, which means you’ll need to be creative. You’ll also need access to the right tools. You may need to deploy automated software testing to ensure systems work as they should (a list of automated software testing tools will come in handy).  

Additionally, you should always remember to segment. This will help you gain the best possible understanding of your audience. Tailor your site based on a user’s location, and remember to remind users of products that they have recently viewed. 

So, embrace the future. A Personalized Ecommerce Experience can take your business to the next level.